Black as Coal
by TaeganRose
Summary: Coal has just started at Coates Academy. When things start to go horrifically wrong, who will she rely on?


**Ok so first I want to say that Goneismyfave1's story, 'A New FAYZ with a New Girl', was really what inspired me to do this :) Read her stuff, she's amazing (A lot better than me :P)  
Anyways  
This book is based around an OC of mine, Coal, a girl who had recently moved to Coates Academy. God knew what dreadful circumstances awaited her there.  
Please excuse the common coarse language, and the fact that some of the characters may have been tweaked slightly :3**

The sign loomed over me like a monster in the dark.

'Coates Academy', in big, fancy metallic letters. There were kids around beyond the sign. It was nothing like the school I had been to – my school had been cheap and shitty and crammed with whores or dickhead guys who snorted cocaine in the girls' bathroom. There weren't condoms everywhere, there weren't fights breaking out in every place I looked.

I didn't know why my parents sent me to Coates. They just got sick of me, I guess.

A girl came up to me. She had waving auburn hair that hung to one side. She smiled softly.

"Hi," She said, "My name is Lana. You're new here, right?"

I looked at her for a moment, then smiled back. "Yeah." I said, "My name is Coal."

She tilted her head, "Isn't Coal a guy's name?" She asked curiously.

"Not anymore." I said tersely. She shrugged and asked me to follow her.

So I did.

A group of boys were playing some form of football around us. I watched for a moment – boys at my old school didn't exactly play sport, they were either fucking blonde sluts or smoking dope.

And suddenly, _wham_, a boy rammed straight into me. I fell over, and he tripped on my side and fell into the mud.

"What the fu-" I stood, wiping the mud off my legs. I looked at the boy who had crashed into me. He had already gotten up and had his hand on my upper arm. He had dirty blonde hair and gleaming blue eyes. He was completely covered in mud.

"Jesus Christ," He said, exasperated, "Are you ok? I'm so sorry…"

I looked at him calmly and replied; "I'm fine, thanks for asking."

He smiled penitently and ran back off with the others. I just watched after him, gawking.

"That's Sam Temple," She said, "He's already got a girlfriend." She smiled humorously, noticing my face. Then she added, "But there are plenty of other's around."

I took one more step towards her and the bell rang. I swallowed. The kids filed into the door and I followed them. Lana stuck with me, showing me the timetable. We had Chemistry first.

"The lab is this way," Lana said hastily, pushing through crowds of chatting people.

She grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the classroom, where half the class were already seated.

I sat next to Lana. She seemed a lot more conserved than I thought she was.

And then, the teacher walked in.

The students stood – some of them, anyway – and waited for her to sort out her papers.

"Sit class." She said stiffly, and the class sat. "I am aware we have a new student among us today?"

I swallowed immediately. "Coal Peters?" Lana nudged me, and I stood up.

"Ah." The teacher said, "Well class, this is Coal."

The class murmured, then fell silent. "She's slightly younger than you all, just bear in mind that she has a particular advantage in Science and has been put up a class."

I didn't change my expression from 'not giving a shit.'

"Ok, Coal, I take it you don't have a partner?"

_Well duh._

"No." I said. She ran her finger down the role and stopped at a name. '_Drake Merwin'_.

"Drake, you're going to be Coal's lab partner for now." The teacher said. I looked at the boy she was glaring at. I bit my bottom lip.

He had slightly bumpy brown hair that had bits hanging over his face. His hair was dark, but not as dark as mine. Then again, I had pitch black hair – you can't get much darker than black, can you?

He had incredible blue eyes – more outstanding than Sam Temple's – That I could see from the other side of the classroom. He wore a black hooded jacket, which was rolled up to his elbows. He sat up and looked at me when the teacher called him to be my partner.

"Mk." He huffed, running his hand through his deep brown hair, his other elbow resting on the back of his chair.

"Ok – we will continue with our sodium and chlorine reaction tests today Class, just find your tubes and continue where you left off." The teacher said. She sat at her desk and typed at her computer.

Drake looked at me, and tilted his head – indicating for me to come over.

So I waved goodbye to Lana, thanked her, and walked over to Drake. He was incredibly attractive.

"Coal, huh?" He said acutely. "Isn't that a guy name?" I looked at him coldly.

"No." I said through my teeth.

"Obviously not." He said frankly. "Coal, this is Caine. And these pathetic assholes are Orc, Zil and Hunter." I raised my eyebrow.

"And you mock me because _I_ have a weird name?" I asked wittily. Drake shrugged.

"How old are you, Coal?" The boy, Hunter, asked. "You'd have to be pretty good to be put up class in this shithole."

I looked at him. "Thirteen." I said. Caine pouted, but did nothing.

"We'd better get started before Mrs Cunt-licker tells us to get our asses into gear." Drake said humorously, laughing with the others.

I didn't smile, but followed him to the benches along the side of the classroom. He pulled over a test tube rack with little sticks inside them.

Drake took a breath to say something, but was cut off. The ground shuddered slightly, and the test tubes clattered. Everyone stopped to look for a moment, and the teacher looked distraught.

"It's OK, it was just a little one." She said, implying an earthquake. People turned back to their benches, when another one hit.

The ground was moving about a foot from side to side, and the windows shook. The test tubes fell and shattered, spilling liquid chlorine onto the linoleum floor. The sodium pieces fell into of the chlorine, and it burst into flames.

There were screams around the classroom, and everyone sprinted for the desks.

I huddled under one, next to Drake. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room for both of us.

Someone in the room was crying, the roof was creaking, the door was swinging, glass was shattering. The fire began to spread up the wooden cupboards. _Why the hell are there wooden cupboards in a science lab?_ I thought.

The earthquake stopped. An eerie silence spread around the room. People began to rise from under the desks.

I slowly stood, brushing my wavy black hair behind my ear. The fire was crackling.

People started murmuring worriedly, and I took a few steps towards the teacher's desk.

Then, when people started to notice something, the room went silent again.

"Where did Dr Anderson go?"

Then, people started to panic.


End file.
